At some point in time we have all dreamed of being someone else or somewhere else. When you read a fantasy book that felt so real, you wished you could go to that place. Or maybe you were watching a professional sporting event and imagined that it was you who was making that slam dunk, homerun, impossible goal, or touchdown. That time at your first job when you dropped something, the entire room looked at you, and you just wished the floor would open up so you could be anywhere else. Video games give us the opportunity to escape reality, and with the growth of extended reality technologies, escaping our reality can feel ever more real. On this episode of WMD, two of Dr. Schwartz’s students from the York College of Pennsylvania, Sebastian Suriel-Diaz and Chase Shelton discuss how virtual, augmented, and extended reality are changing the video game experience.

We live in an age of surveillance, but few of us pay attention to exactly how closely we are being tracked. Devices like the Ring doorbell, the Apple Watch, Google’s search engine, and the smartphone in your pocket provide location, imagery, voice, interest, and health data. Social media provides the same. Few people, if anyone, read the user agreements in detail to find out exactly how that user data is being monetized by the companies that build those devices and software. On this episode of WMD, Dr. Tamara Schwartz hands off the microphone to three cybersecurity management students here at the York College of Pennsylvania: Nevin Ferry, Jesse Bitzer, and Brooks Almond, as they head to campus to ask their fellow students about their privacy and whether or not they understand what’s in the user agreements for the social media apps they use.

The sex tech industry is a recognized early adopter of emerging technology and driver of innovation. In fact, ecommerce and bandwidth technology are two examples of innovations that came from the sex tech industry. On this episode of WMD, Dr. Tamara Schwartz hands off the hosting microphone to Neisha Pierre, a cybersecurity management major and her cohost, Paul Gentile, both students here at the York College of Pennsylvania, as they explore how artificial intelligence and robotics are changing the world, with a particular focus on the use of AI and robots in the sex tech industry. This episode includes some explicit content.

Let’s play Buzzword Bingo. Business Analytics. Cybersecurity. AI. Big Data. ChatGPT. Blockchain. IoT. Let’s talk tech. On this episode of WMD, Dr. Schwartz talks with two of her YCP students, Madison Furrow a cybersecurity management major and Thomas Cooper a business analytics major about artificial intelligence and its intersection with everything.

When we think about human resources and personnel, we think about people…about humans! But AI is taking the personal out of personnel. Since the introduction of Human Resources Information Systems into the hiring process, the job search experience has become very different. Generative AI is already making an impact on resumes, and there are new applications of AI in the HR process being introduced all the time. On this episode of WMD, Dr. Schwartz talks with Cameron Gutshall, a business analytics student at the York College of Pennsylvania, to explore how AI is changing the experience of hunting for internships and jobs.

What is real? This is the question posed to the Velveteen Rabbit by the Skin Horse. He goes on to explain that “Real isn’t how you are made. You become.” The rise of Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies makes this question even more complicated. Is something “real” when we experience it in cyberspace? On this episode of WMD, Dr. Schwartz talks with cybersecurity management student Carlos Gomez about how virtual reality and augmented reality technologies are changing our perceptions of what is real.

Coaching in sport is extremely important to development both as an athlete and as a whole person. The tools a coach has at their disposal is a factor in how they can help their athletes prepare, train, reflect, and recover. Emerging technologies are creating new ways to assist in the player – coach relationship. In particular, IoT offers numerous opportunities related to tracking athlete health and performance. On this episode of WMD, Dr. Tamara Schwartz welcomes York College of Pennsylvania Cybersecurity student Luke Ragusa to wrestle with the many potential applications of IoT in the sport of wrestling.

On the last episode of WMD, one of Dr. Schwartz’s student veterans, Mr. Jon Ritt, a business analytics major at the York College of Pennsylvania, shared war stories from his first deployment to Southwest Asia to describe how technology is shaping the battlefield. On this episode, part two of a two-part story, Jon shares the story of his second deployment which occurred several years after the first deployment. He compares and contrasts how both he and the battlefield technology had changed between the deployments, and he speculates on how emerging technologies will continue to change the battlefield today. This episode includes some explicit content and may not be suitable for young children.